Chapter 38: Bite Her! Bite Her Hard!
Gan Qiongying had a dream.
She had experienced similar dreams before, but they were always brief. This time, however, the dream was exceptionally long and vivid—so vivid that even though she was aware she was dreaming, she couldn’t break free. It felt as if she were truly there, embodying the person in the dream.
“Sister!”
“Sister!”
A child’s tender voice rang out, growing louder and louder until it echoed right beside her ear.
Gan Qiongying’s eyes snapped open to find a chubby little toddler standing before her.
His eyelashes fluttered, and his large eyes were utterly endearing. His small face was smudged with dirt, and as his mouth opened and closed, revealing incomplete baby teeth, he called out, “Sister, sister.”
The sunlight was so intense it was blinding. Gan Qiongying raised a hand to shield her eyes. She stared at the little child for a moment, then glanced around and realized she was in a dilapidated courtyard.
This dream felt incredibly real…
Gan Qiongying stood up, intending to look around, but the little toddler chased after her and grabbed her hand.
Looking down, she saw that her own hands were covered in red marks—large and small, as if scratched by something. What shocked her even more was that these were unmistakably the hands of a child.
She hurried over to a water vat in the courtyard and saw a youthful face reflected in it—no older than ten years old.
She shook her head slightly, and the reflection mimicked the movement. She opened her mouth, and the reflection did the same.
“Sister, this is for you to eat…” The little toddler held out a dirty, root-like plant stem, smiling at her as he said, “It’s sour. Tasty.”
Gan Qiongying stared at the dimples at the corners of his mouth, feeling a wave of dizziness before losing control of her body.
It felt as if she had been squeezed—not physically, but as if her soul had been compressed. Her perspective shifted; she became an observer, yet she was trapped within a small body.
Gan Qiongying watched herself take the stem, put it in her mouth, and chew. A sour, astringent taste instantly filled her mouth, so bitter it nearly brought tears to her eyes.
“Is it good, Sister?” the little toddler asked.
Gan Qiongying heard herself reply, “It’s good. Changsheng is so well-behaved.”
For a long time after that, Gan Qiongying observed from this eerie, detached perspective as the siblings lived their lives within the dilapidated courtyard.
They scavenged for anything edible, including a rat that had drowned in the water vat while trying to steal a drink.
Then, one night, a vicious Momo barged into the courtyard, intending to take the little toddler away. It was then that Gan Qiongying finally confirmed her suspicions.
“Eldest Miss, this old servant advises you to hand Sixth Young Master over to me.” The vicious Momo was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with a face full of coarse flesh. Accompanied by two maids, she stood with her hands on her hips, blocking the doorway like an insurmountable mountain.
From the perspective of the two children, Gan Qiongying had to look up at her.
“How dare you!” Gan Qiongying heard “herself” say. “I am the daughter of Princess Huixian! Sixth Young Master is the youngest son of Prince Hui! One day, when Prince Hui—when my royal uncle ascends to the most exalted position—he will have all you treacherous, disloyal servants torn apart by chariots and sliced to death!”
The girl’s delicate voice carried the desperate, throat-tearing cry of a cornered beast. Clutching a sharpened wooden stick, she shielded the little milk bun behind her, her frail and slender body standing against the wicked servants who loomed like mountains before them.
Perhaps her gaze was too fierce, like that of a wild, untamed lone wolf, for the wicked Momo hesitated to step forward, though her words held no mercy.
“Prince Hui? Your royal uncle?” The wicked Momo sneered, spitting on the ground. “Princess Huixian’s bones have long rotted away. She died so disgracefully, carrying a bastard child—a shame to the imperial family. Who in the Imperial City still remembers you, the daughter of a princess?”
“If you were truly precious, why would you be thrown into this godforsaken palace?”
“As for the Sixth Prince, Prince Hui’s properly wedded consort has borne him many heirs. How could he remember a bastard born from a night of pleasure with a lowly palace maid?”
“And what’s more, you probably don’t even know yet—Prince Hui went to battle in the northern frontier, fell from his horse during the chaos, and disappeared. And you still dare to hope he’ll ascend the throne? Hahaha…”
“Hand over that little brat, and you, girl, can keep muddling along here. We’re not heartless monsters. Just know your place from now on and serve us well!”
Without another word, the old Momo signaled to her companions, and they rushed forward to snatch the child.
Gan Qiongying had never felt such rage and helplessness in her life. She watched “herself” gripping a tree branch, fighting desperately against these wicked servants, while her little brother behind her whimpered like a kitten.
She wished she could transform into a beast—even a dog would do—to tear these servants apart, even if it meant her own death, for daring to try and take her brother away.
But she was, after all, just a girl in her teens, as frail as a blade of grass swaying in the wind, no stronger than the little milk bun she was protecting.
She was knocked to the ground, and the branch she clutched tightly stabbed one of the servants before accidentally piercing her own abdomen as she fell.
The little milk bun was seized, kicking and screaming desperately.
“Elder sister! Elder sister! Save me!”
Gan Qiongying lay on the ground, her heart burning, her insides torn apart. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up from the filthy ground, pulled the branch from her abdomen, and stabbed wildly at the servants like a madwoman.
“Let Changsheng go!”
“Let my brother go!”
“Let him go!”
In that moment, she truly seemed to turn into a rabid dog. Blood gushed from her abdomen, soaking her tattered dress as she stabbed the servants who were trying to take her only companion, making them cry out in pain.
“Gan Lin! Bite her! Bite her hard!”
The little milk bun, who usually smiled like a kitten with curved eyes and dimples, now harmless and innocent, stopped his wailing at her words. He clamped his mouth shut and bit down hard on the arm of the person holding him.
The entire palace seemed to turn into hell in that instant. Screams and cries pierced the night sky as three adults failed to subdue two children.
Unable to bear it any longer, the wicked Momo threw the child in her arms to the ground.
The child had no chance to dodge. With a thud, he hit the ground and collided with a stone pillar by the door, falling silent instantly.
“Ah—!” Gan Qiongying felt as though her throat had been torn apart. She rushed forward and scooped up the child.
When she turned him over, his head was covered in blood, a gaping hole torn open by the impact.
“I’ll kill you all—” At this moment, Gan Qiongying’s heart felt like a living beast thrown into boiling oil. Clutching the blood-soaked tree branch as if it were a sharp claw, she staggered toward the three people.
The three of them were utterly terrified, shouting “She’s gone mad!” as they retreated, quickly slamming the courtyard gate shut.
Gan Qiongying crashed against the door, pounding on it with a hollow thud. Her throat emitted hoarse screams, like a vengeful ghost clawing its way from hell into the mortal world.
Outside, the three huddled together, pressing their wounds and muttering in uncertainty, “Is she dead? If she’s dead, that’s good. If she’s dead, we can report the task done. We don’t necessarily have to send her out…”
“If she dies in there, it won’t be blamed on us. We’ll just say they injured each other!”
“Right, right. Lock the gate. After all, the order from above was just to finish off the younger one…”
“Lock it!” came the old Momo’s venomous voice. “Lock that dead girl in there too!”
But by now, Gan Qiongying had already collapsed from exhaustion, trembling as she crawled toward the milk dumpling, whose fate was unknown.
Outside, the main gate was barricaded, and the sound of a lock clicking echoed through the dilapidated Palace at midnight. They were going to seal the two children alive inside this courtyard.
Clutching her abdomen, Gan Qiongying held the milk dumpling and fell unconscious.
Here, the dream twisted and shifted, like a muted painting.
Gan Qiongying finally returned to her forced state of feeling everything, resuming her role as an observer.
She saw the girl and the boy like two pitiful, unweaned wolf cubs. Without the protection of adult wolves, even if they managed to fend off invaders while covered in wounds, they were ultimately doomed to die.
And Gan Qiongying confirmed her suspicion: these two children were none other than the young Duan Rong and the Emperor.